What makes a landscape quintessentially French? In this free lecture complementing the drawings exhibition Capturing Nature's Beauty: Three Centuries of French Landscapes, art historian Richard Rand traces the development of the landscape tradition in French art, from its first flourishing in the idealized vistas of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin in the 1600s through its apogee in the Impressionists' plein air sketches of the 1800s, and reveals what makes it unique.

Rand discusses how and why landscape changed status, evolving from a mere backdrop for human activities to a respected artistic subject in its own right. He also surveys the vast variety of landscapes created by French artists of the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s, from rigorously topographical views to picturesque flights of the imagination.

About Richard Rand
Richard Rand is senior curator and curator of paintings and sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, an art museum and research center in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and a lecturer in art history at Williams College. An expert in French art of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, Rand has organized and co-organized numerous exhibitions, including Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France, Jean-François Millet: Drawn into the Light, and Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile, and has written numerous articles and books, including Claude Lorrain—The Painter as Draftsman.

How to Get Here
The Getty Center is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive in Los Angeles, California, approximately 12 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. See Hours, Directions, Parking for maps and driving directions.

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